[Ord. No. 2017-13; Ord. No. 2018-08]
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated.
ANIMAL CONTROL AGENCY
Any agency or person, including an Animal Control Officer, authorized by law to implement animal control laws and provide animal care and control on behalf of the Borough.
ANIMAL WELFARE ORGANIZATION
Any charitable organization whose purpose includes the promotion of animal welfare and that has been granted 501(c)(3) nonprofit status by the Internal Revenue Service.
CARETAKER
Any person who regularly provides food and water to a feral cat colony.
EARTIP or EAR-MARKED
A method of identifying a feral or stray cat by a notched or tipped left ear as performed by a licensed veterinarian.
FERAL CAT
A cat that is not socialized to humans and is not an owned cat.
FERAL CAT COLONY
A group of feral or stray cats that congregate, more or less, together as a unit and share a common food source.
FOSTER HOME
A household in which a cat or kitten is temporarily placed for the purpose of providing indoor shelter, care and, if necessary, socialization before permanent placement in an adoptive home.
FOWL
Any chicken, hen, turkey, goose, duck, emu, ostrich, or any other fowl or poultry customarily found on a farm, and pigeons.
LIVESTOCK
Any animal customarily found on a farm or typically raised for use and sale, including, but not limited to swine, pigs, hogs, sheep, bull, cow, calf, heifer, llama, goat, horse, or pony.
NUISANCE
Conduct by any animal that disturbs the peace, including habitually or continually howling, barking, crowing or making loud noises, and habitually and significantly destroying property.
OWNED CAT
A cat that is a companion to a person, is regularly fed and sheltered in the same person’s habitation and carries visible indicia of ownership, such as a collar or tag.
SHELTER
A structure that provides feral and stray cats with protection from cold, rain and other weather-related elements.
SPONSOR
Any Animal Welfare Organization that agrees to comply with the requirements of sponsorship set forth in this chapter.
STRAY CAT
A cat that is socialized to humans and is not an owned cat.
TNR
The method of managing feral and stray cats known as “trap-neuter-return”.
TNR PROGRAM
A program pursuant to which feral and stray cats are trapped, sterilized, vaccinated against rabies, eartipped, returned to the location where they were captured and provided with long-term care by a Caretaker in accordance with this chapter.
No person owning, keeping or harboring any dog shall suffer or permit it to run at large upon the public streets, or in any other public park, or in any public building or in any other public place within the borough.
No person owning, keeping or harboring any dog shall permit it on leash, or otherwise, to run upon the beach bordering the Atlantic Ocean between May 30 and September 15 of each year.
The board of commissioners shall have power to appoint an agency or one or more persons to be the Animal Control Officer who may seize and impound dogs running at large in violation of the provisions of this chapter.
No person shall hinder, molest or interfere with anyone authorized to perform any duty under this chapter, and anyone so authorized may go on any premises in pursuit of any dog running at large, except upon the premises of the owner of a dog if the owner is present and forbids same.
All dogs kept or maintained by their owners in the borough shall be licensed and registered if over seven months of age.
Dog licenses shall be issued by the borough clerk in accordance with State statutes and upon payment of the following fees for each dog:
Municipal License Fee
$6.80
NJ Registration Fee
$1
NJ Pilot Clinic Fund
$0.20
NJ Pet Population Control
$3 (non-spayed/non-neutered only)
The provisions of this section shall not apply to “seeing-eye” dogs properly trained to assist blind persons when such dogs are actually being used by blind persons for the purpose of aiding them in going from place to place.
The license and registration tag provided for in Subsection 6-2.4 hereof expires on December 31 in each year. The fee for the renewals thereof shall be the same as for the original license and tag.
[Ord. No. 2017-13]
Any person who shall bring or cause to be brought into this borough any unlicensed dog and shall keep the same or permit the same to be kept within this borough for a period of more than 10 days shall immediately apply for a license and registration tag for each such dog in accordance with Subsection 6-2.4 hereof.
[Ord. No. 2021-10]
a. 
No person owning, harboring, keeping, walking, or in charge of any dog shall cause, permit or allow such dog to soil, defile, defecate on or commit any nuisance on any common thoroughfare, street, sidewalk, passageway, road, play area, park, or any place where people congregate or walk, or upon any beaches or beach fronts, or upon any private property without the permission of the owner of private property.
b. 
It shall be a complete defense to violations of paragraph a of this subsection that a person shall have immediately removed such defecation and disposed of it in a sanitary manner.
c. 
Disposition in a sanitary manner shall include taking the feces home for disposition, or wrapping the feces in a waterproof wrapping and placing it in the dog owner’s home trash can or a municipal can. It shall not include burial or placement in a storm sewer.
d. 
No persons shall permit the accumulation of animal feces upon his property or property occupied by him to the extent that the odor may be noticeable to any adjoining property owner.
e. 
The provisions of this section shall not apply to blind persons who may use dogs as guides.
[Ord. No. 2017-13]
a. 
For violation of any provision of this section, the penalty upon conviction, shall be a fine of $50 for each and every subsequent violation.
b. 
Except as otherwise provided, every day in which a violation of any provision of this section exists shall constitute a separate violation.
The Borough has an obligation to effectively and humanely control feral cat populations within its borders. Therefore, a Trap-Neuter-Return (“TNR”) program is hereby created for the purpose of reducing the population of feral cats, which shall benefit and protect the public health, welfare, and safety, and for the further purpose of the humane treatment of feral cats.
A TNR Program shall be permitted and Caretakers shall be entitled to maintain feral cat colonies in accordance with the terms and conditions of this section.
Friends of Southern Ocean County Animal Shelter Inc. agrees to comply with the requirements of this chapter and shall act as a Sponsor of the TNR Program, and shall provide the Borough with a written letter of intention containing its address, telephone number and electronic mailing address. The Borough may authorize additional Animal Welfare Organizations as sponsorship entities as it deems appropriate by resolution of the Board of Commissioners.
It shall be the duty of a Sponsor to:
a. 
Make reasonable efforts to maintain records provided by Caretakers on the size and location of colonies, as well as records of cats in the colonies.
b. 
Help to resolve any complaints over cats belonging to registered colonies.
It shall be the responsibility of a Caretaker to:
a. 
Make reasonable efforts to work with the Sponsor to trap all cats in a colony and have all trapped cats sterilized, vaccinated against rabies, microchipped and eartipped by a licensed veterinarian.
b. 
Provide or arrange for the provision of adequate food and water on a regular basis and make reasonable efforts to ensure adequate shelter for colony cats.
c. 
In the event kittens are born to a colony cat, the caregiver shall take reasonable steps likely to result in the removal of kittens from the colony after they have been weaned, and the placement of the kittens in homes or foster homes for the purpose of subsequent permanent placement.
d. 
Make reasonable efforts to work with the Sponsor to resolve any complaints over colony cats managed by the Caretaker.
e. 
Obtain proper medical attention to any colony cat that appears to require it.
[Ord. No. 2017-13]
An Animal Control Service that has trapped or received an eartipped cat from within the Borough can immediately return that cat to the Sponsor or Caregiver Colony versus impounding the cat at the shelter.
[Ord. No. 2018-08]
It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to keep, stable, breed or quarter livestock or fowl within the corporate limits of the Borough of Harvey Cedars.
This prohibition shall not include the keeping of cats, dogs or other domestic animals within the limits of the Borough as permitted by any other section of this chapter.